HEERENVEEN are holding out for £5million for Celtic target Alfie Finnbogason.

The 24-year-old Icelandic ace is among a list of goalscorers on the radar as Hoops manager Neil Lennon hunts a replacement for Gary Hooper.

Parkhead chief scout John Park watched Finnbogason net again at the weekend as his side beat NAC Breda 2-0, his third top-flight strike in the first two games of the season.

The hitman has been a smash hit for the Dutch outfit and bagged 24 goals in 31 Eredivisie games after signing last summer from Helsingborgs, where he was also top scorer in 2011-12.

Finnbogason’s superb form has attracted scouts from across Europe and Germans Werder Bremen have already seen a bid of £4m kicked into touch by Heerenveen chiefs.

And with the Dutch outfit unlikely to budge from their original asking price, Celtic face having to fork out a hefty transfer fee or come up with an alternative.

Lennon is scouring the globe for a hitman, with Southampton’s Billy Sharp and Wolves’ Kevin Doyle among others in the mix.

The Celtic manager wants a top-class striker for their Champions League play-off with Shakhter Karagandy a week tomorrow but the club won’t be breaking their wage structure.

However, it is understood Finnbogason’s wage package would fall well into Celtic’s structure and his current manager, Marco van Basten, admits he’ll be powerless to keep his star man if the club chooses to cash in.

He said: “I do not want to sell him but I know my place and I know I am not the boss at Heerenveen.

“If some club comes in with a large offer, there is nothing I can do.

“He’s so important to this club on and off the pitch, so if clubs want to buy him, they will have to throw a lot of money at us.”

The Dutch club’s sporting director, Gaston Sporre, said: “He’s good for at least 20 goals a season for us and we won’t sell him for a reduced fee.

“If we get a concrete offer for him, we will negotiate but our aim is to keep him at Heerenveen. He hasn’t told us he is unhappy or asked for a transfer.”